Detachable heel



1 8, 1942- c. SVCHRECK 2,295,491

DETACHABLE HEEL Filed May 8, 1940 mvazkiroa v can Samar/c 2w" ATTORNEY;

Patented Sept. 8, 1942 UNITED STTES TNT ()FFIC Claims.

This invention concerns a detachable heel, i. e. a. heel which is readily taken off a shoe, and is also easy to place thereon.

According to the invention an old, broken or worn heel may be removed by the user from a shoe, and a new heel be substituted without the use of any tool.

Furthermore difierent types of' heels for different usefulness; such as leather heels, rubber heels, heels with caulks etc., may be placed alternatively by the user onto a shoe, as he may desire.

It is an object of this invention to provide for a, heel, which may be placed onto a shoe by a singlemove and will then be readily and securely attached, just as if it were permanently mounted on the shoe.

It is another object of this invention that a heel placed onto a shoe in accordance with this invention will automatically be in complete alignment with the shoe, and will in no way differ from a heel permanently placed onto the shoe in respect to appearance, wear, or feel or reaction for the user.

The invention further provides, that the heel attached to the shoe in accordance with this invention is completely sealed onto the shoe, so that, as compared with a permanently attached heel, no new or additional points are offered, where deterioration might set in and spread.

According to this invention,-and in part due to the last mentioned feature,a detachable heel partly sectioned at the heel, and to which a tool is exemplarily applied for the operation of removing the heel.

Fig. 2 shows part of the shoe in a bottom view, after the heel has been detached.

Fig 3 shows a top view of the detached heel.

The remaining figures show parts on a slightly larger scale.

Fig. 4 shows a top view of the female element forming part of the mechanism for attaching a, heel to the shoe.

Fig. 5 is a corresponding side view, the parts,

which are or are to be assembled with the ele-' ment being indicated in a dot-dash line.

Fig. 6 is a detailed cross-section upon a still larger scale, which is taken at the level and in the direction indicated in Fig. 4 by the numeral 6,

Figs. 7 and 8 are a bottom view and a side View, respectively, of the male element of the mechanism.

Fig. 9 is a corresponding, sectioned back view, taken in Fig. 7 at the level and in the direction indicated by the numeral 9.

In the foregoing Figs. 1, 5 apply specifically to the embodiment of a leather heel.

Fig. 10 shows a cross-sectioned front view of a similar embodiment of a rubber heel.

Fig. 11 is a similar, unsectioned but symmetrical half view of such heel mounted upon a shoe.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the various views:

Suitable means should be incorporated in the back of a shoe for the attachment of a detachable heel element offering a strong point of reaction for such purpose. Thus the shoe l3 shows a rudimentary heel element or stub l4 a's'permanent part of the shoe, and the detachable heel [5 extends below, with parting line I6 therebetween. At the parting line I6 the stub M has a level surface ll, from and below which a hook I8 extends first down and then in substantial parallelism with said surface IT, in order to permit the heel l5,--byway of a suitable negative counter part or recess provided therein,-to be slid from the rear of the shoe onto stub l4 and into alignment with the stub.

As example of coacting male and. female machine parts, which permit the heel to be attached to and'detached from a shoe, the drawing shows a hook l8 in Figs. 7, 8 and 9 and the plate IQ of Figs, 4 and 5, respectively, one of which is attached to the shoe and the other one to the detachable heel.

In the embodiments of the drawing the hook I8 is fastened by nails 2% extending through suitable holes 2| in. the flat base portion 22 of the hook upon the bottom surface ll of stub 14 of shoe IS, the stub being for instance made of leather. This hook l8 and the plate l9 may be executed in material of the desired strength, such as metal, .and these elements or the parts thereof, which may be outwardly exposed, are preferably executed in a non-corrosive material.

A preferred hook l8 extends to the back of the shoe, substantially in spaced parallelism with the surface IT. For such purpose the hook it is ing there roughly a parabolic outline. Along this converging or roughly parabolic outline the marginal portion 23 of the hook is raised above the level of the base portion 22, so that it extends above the top of the heads 24 of nails 20, if those heads 24 project above the base 22 at all and are not countersunk therein. The marginal portion 23 is further raised so much over the surface I'!, that the conversely struck-up inner marginal portion 25 of plate I9 slidably fits between marginal portion 23 and surface IT.

The plate I9 is marginally provided with holes. Some of these holes, like 26, may serve for clearance (reducing the weight of the plate), whereas other holes 2! accommodate the nails 28 by which this plate is attached upon the top of a leather heel 29.

Round lug 30 has a slotted bracket extension 3|. Plate 19 is centrally cut out at its front, so that it partly clears lug 30 and in part extends into the slotted bracket extension 3|, lug 30 being fixedly mounted in the position shown in Figs. 4 and upon plate l9 by a rivet 32 extending through bracket 3| and plate l9. When the inner marginal portion 25 of plate 19 is slid as far as possible underneath the marginal portion 23 of hook I 8, lug 30, which generally serves as a latch, is concentrically positioned above the semi-circular clearance 33 provided at the center in the front of hook l8. In this position the ledges 34 which are struck down at the front from the base portion 22 of hook l8 and the ledges 35, which are struck up at the front of plate l9, register with each other in abutment. The abutting surfaces of ledges 34 and 35 are substantially in level with the top surface of bracket 3|, and this is substantially also the level, to which the bottom side of marginal portion 23 extends down, when said marginal portion 23 is engaged below the inner marginal portion 25 of plate l9. Up to this level or slightly thereabove the opening in plate l9 extending below and circumscribed by the inner marginal portion 25 is filled with slightly yieldable material such as the tongue 36 of the rubber insert 31. The root of said rubber tongue extends at the same level up to and being substantially flush with the ledges 35. The rubber insert 31 is otherwise, however, in level with or extends slightly above the top side of the inner marginal portion 25. The remainder of plate I 9 fits into said insert, the marginal portion 38 of the rubber insert 31 being correspondingly recessed, and said marginal portion further extends over the surrounding top side of the leather heel 29 in abutment therewith, and said marginal portion 38 peripherally registers with the leather heel 29 except where its level and such registration are interrupted by the ledges 35 on opposite sides of lug 30. Just like the top side of inner marginal portion 25 of plate [9 the top side of marginal portion 38 of rubber insert 31 extends therefor in abutment with the surface I! of stub I 4 and serves as a seal, whereas in this assembled position the bottom surface of marginal portion 23 of hook I 8 rests and seals upon the tongue 36 of rubber insert 31.

After plate l9 has been nailed onto the leather heel 29, tongue 36 is slipped underneath the inner marginal portion 25 of plate I9, and the whole bottom side of the rubber insert 31, including the bottom side of the tongue 36 and of the marginal portion 38, is attached upon, e. g. cemented down onto the plate I9 and onto the leather heel 29,

, each other.

whereupon the replaceable leather heel has the finished appearance shown in Fig. 3.

The top side of lug 30, which now will be explained as a latch, registers with the bottom side of the base portion 22 of hook [8 when the parts are assembled, and the ledges 34 are slightly set apart from the circular opening 33 in order just to clear lug 30. The said semi-circular opening 33 registers with the circular hole countersunk in lug 30, so that the stub or disc-like catch 39 snaps up into said semi-circular opening 33, under pressure of compression spring 40, as soon as the detachable heel [5 has been slid frontwardly underneath stub l4 into a most advanced position at which the heel elements register with A clearance cut 4| is provided in stub or heel element [4 above the semi-circular opening 33, so that a tool, like a screwdriver 42 having a curved front end 43 may be inserted, and will lift, when tilted in reaction upon the shank of the sole of the shoe, the catch 39 into lug 39 and then the detachable heel may be slid off stub l4, by being pushed to and pulled on at the rear of shoe l 3.

Spring may be accommodated in a recess in the bottom of catch 39, so that the said catch may be pressed all the way into the hole in lug 39. A suitable check may be provided on lug 30, which prevents catch 39 from being pushed out of lug 39 by spring 49. As such check the drawing shows a slanted feather-keyway 44 in catch 39, and a key 45, as a marginal upper sector of the wall of lug 39 is depressed into said keyway 44 so far, as to check the upward movement of catch 39 at a predetermined, raised level.

When the detachable heel is deposited in a rearwardly displaced position upon the stub I 4, catch 39 comes to rest upon base portion 22. As the heel is then advanced and the converging tracks of the marginal portion 25 engage underneath the tracks of the marginal portion 23, the catch 39 is depressed into lug 30. Only when the heel has reached its frontmost registering position and the said tracks are jammed within each other, catch 39 snaps into the semi-circular opening 33, so that the heel is firmly secured in place.

If a rubber heel is to be used instead of a leather heel, there is no separate rubber insert 31, but the space of rubber insert 31 and heel 29 are all one mass of rubber, in which a plate [9 is vulcanized into place, as it is indicated in Fig. 10. In that case the smaller nail holes 21 are preferably replaced by larger openings 46, which are for instance of the same size as clearance holes 26, and the clearance holes and openings permit the rubber to bind through the plate 41. Such a plate 41 is shown to be vulcanized into a detachable rubber heel 48 in Fig. 10, the rubber clearing the desired level upon the inside of the inner marginal portion 25, just as the tongue 36 of rubber insert 31 clears the plate IS in connection with the detachable leather heel described above. Fig. 11 shows the rubber heel attached to a shoe, as seen from a point just to the front of the heel, and this corresponds in appearance to a detachable leather heel which is similarly positioned, except that in that case part of the rubber shown in Fig. 11 is leather.

Having thus described my invention in detail, yet I do not wish to be limited thereby, except as the state of the art and the appended claims may require, for it is obvious that various modifications and changes may be made in the form of embodiment of my invention, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

What I claim is:

l. A heel comprising converging tracks arranged parallel to the surface of the heel and adapted to be slid onto counter parts of such tracks on a shoe into a frontmost position where the tracks jam, and a rubber layer on said heel covering all but the underside of said tracks.

2. A heel comprising converging tracks arranged parallel to the surface of the heel and adapted to he slid onto counter parts of such tracks on a shoe into a frontmost position where the tracks jam, said heel being in part made of rubber which extends over said tracks and throughout the space between said tracks.

3. In combination, a shoe having a stub heel, a detachable heel, slide means on said heels for guiding them into registering abutment, when the detachable heel is slid from the back of the shoe onto said stub heel, and a lug integral with said slide means on said detachable heel and extending to the front of said stub heel, said lug accommodating a catch to the front of the heels, said catch being engageable upon the front of said stub heel.

4. In combination, a stub heel provided on a shoe, a detachable heel, slide means on said heels for guiding them into registering alignment, one of said heels having a rubber portion where it is aligned with the other, and a catch for looking said heels in registering alignment, said heels registering with each other in rubber sealed abutment along their peripheries when they are aligned, except said catch projecting from said heels to the front.

5. In combination, a stub heel provided on a shoe, a detachable heel, slide means on said heels for guiding them into registering alignment, and a catch to the front of said heels for locking said heels in registering alignment, said heels being in marginally rubber sealed abutment upon each other when they are aligned.

CARL SCHRECK. 

